Influence on 17/18th century instrument playing techniques at Versailles

Within the general research program EVAA (Experimental Virtual Archaeological-Acoustics), centralizing several studies on heritage acoustics with the use of acoustic simulations and virtual reality, the so-called “EVAA_Ver” project aims to carry out a multimodal study of the influence of rooms on the playing techniques of musicians playing instruments from the 17th and 18th centuries and whose performance is located in Versailles (2019-2022).

A doctoral thesis grant by the Fondation des Sciences du Patrimoine (FSP) brings together researchers from several institutions : Cergy Paris Université, Centre de recherche du château de Versailles and Institut Jean Le Rond ∂’Alembert.The PhD project consists of assisting in the creation of a real-time room acoustic simulator for use with musicians, taking into account the musicians movements and the impact of dynamic source directivity. The simulator will be put into use for studying the impact of room acoustics on musicians playing, focusing on comparisons between Baroque chamber music venues and classical period equivalents (Berlioz time). The thesis work will contribute to the research and documentation of pertinent venues, acoustic measurements of existing venues, and the creation of ecologically valid geometrical acoustics models of some of these venues. The thesis will include a series of perceptual studies examining the impact of acoustic variations on playing, in the context of historically informed performance methods.

Access the project web portal EVAAThe project EVAA is coordinated under the Sound Spaces working group, of the group Lutheries - Acoustique - Musique (LAM), at the Institut Jean Le Rond ∂’Alembert, Sorbonne Université and CNRS. EVAA is supported by the Collegium Musicae Institute of Sorbonne Université.